Inoculum 56(4) - Mycological Society of America

Cordyceps Diversity in Korea
Cordyceps is traditionally known as a highly medicinal
mushroom in oriental society of Asia. It is quite
diverse in its morphological characters, host range, natural
habitat, etc. Due to contrast climatic variation and
its unique geographical position, Cordyceps diversity is
rich in Korea. Research on Cordyceps of Korea during
last 20 years has shown that some species are widely
distributed, while others grow in specific locations.
Maturation periods of stromata range from late spring to
summer till early autumn every year. Most species
show their host specificity, but few species grow in diverse
hosts. Microscopically, Cordyceps species differ
in their spore shape, size, and their conidiation nature.
There are about 300-400 Cordyceps species all over
the world and are distributed universally (Kobayasi,
1982; Kobayasi and Shimizu, 1983; Sung, 1996).
Species of Cordyceps (Clavicipitaceae, Hypocreales,
Ascomycota) grow inside insect host bodies as endosclerotium
during winter and produce stromata in summer.
Hosts of Cordyceps species include different stages
of insect life cycle ranging from larva to adult of different
insect orders, bee, wasp, cicadae, beetle, etc., except
few which grow on hypogeous Elaphomyces species.
Their scientific study and cultivation have been done in
Korea for a long time. Every year, entomopathogenic
fungal specimens including Cordyceps species are collected
from different parts of Korea and are air-dried and
preserved along with their isolates in Entomopathogenic
Fungal Culture Collection (EFCC), Kangwon National
University, Korea (Sung, 2004). The specimens are
identified on the basis of their morphological characters.
By Jae-Mo Sung, Bhushan Shrestha, Sang-Kuk Han, Su-Young Kim,
Young-Jin Park, Won-Ho Lee, Kwang-Yeol Jeong, Sung-Keun Choi
Continued on following page
Fig. 3. C. gracilis
Fig. 1. C. militaris
Fig. 2. C. bifusispora
Inoculum 56(4), August 2005 3